Mailchimp.com vs. Chimpmail.com: Behind the name

The firm would have been named differently if the domain was available.

I was listening to How I Built This with Guy Raz this stretch. He recently interviewed Ben Chestnut, the founder of Mailchimp.

At 24:57, Raz asks Chestnut regarding the name Mailchimp. Chestnut explains that he was going to name the business ChimpMail but the .com domain was taken, so he settled on Mailchimp. (The firm subsequently purchased Chimpmail.com.)

This goes to show how much of a role availability of .com domains has on firm naming. This is still the case today. It also shows that firms can find alternatives to their first choice.

It also shows how names can be limiting. Mailchimp has expanded well beyond email these days (much to the chagrin of people like me who just want a good email service). Maybe Chimp.com is in the firm’s future?

I enjoy listening to How I Built This to hear the up and down stories of successful businesses. There’s a selection bias in the stories since Raz only interviews successful founders. But he ends the episodes asking how much luck played into the eventual success story.

Oh, and GoDaddy ought to buy Mailchimp.